Ranma Gundam 2008: War of Terror
by Tekkaman Xero
Summary: Rated for violence. 2008. Five years after the Edwards Nuclear Disaster. Mobile Suits are now common military machines. But now a new war erupts, and Ranma Saotome has been pressed into service aboard the Alliance Grey Phantom Assault Force.
1. Default Chapter

Notes: The original version of this fic was removed and this rewrite posted as an entirely new fic. This way new reviewers won't confuse the old reviews and associate them with the rewrite. (it'll also bring the fic to the top of the category for a while)  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ OR Gundam. I DO own my own characters. No money is beign made off of this writing so there is no justifiable reason to sue. I'm just a poor soul with a six-year-old piece of crap computer, so you wouldn't get anything, anyway.  
  
Ranma Gundam 2008; War of Terror(rewrite)  
  
By Tekkaman Xero  
  
Prologue  
  
May 26th, 2007, New Edwards Test Flight Center, California.  
  
The sun rose slowly on the eastern horizon. Even in the desert the is the northern section of New Edwards Test Flight Center, this could be regarded as a trule beautiful sight.  
  
Unfortunately, admiring that sight proved to be the downfall of a test pilot as he paused to admire it too long. Good thing it was only a mock battle. "Bill! You're in a fight! Don't stop for nothin'!" Xero shouted through the com.  
  
"Easy for you to say!"  
  
A group of ground-model RGM-79 GM Mobile Suits pursued a light green GM of a new type. Piloting the group of GMs were various pilots ranging from as young as 18 to as old as 28. The pilot of the green suit was Xero Prime. Best test pilot of New Edwards Test Flight Center. Xero was 24 years old. He was one of the greatest MS pilots in America. He was 5'8", with a slight muscular build. He had long (waist-length) black hair that had been kept that way thanks to his brother's influence. ('cause if he DIDN'T get to keep the hair, there would be a homicide, or a suicide!) It was always kept tied back into a loose ponytail, except for a spot on the right side of his face that was cut chin-length, and hung down loosely, framing the right side of his face, in a way. He had soft blue eyes that spoke of a sadness no one else could ever know. In spite of this, he was a very outgoing young man. His personality doesn't agree with what can be seen in his eyes. He spoke little of his past. Even his own brother did not know what he had seen that created this hidden sadness deep within him. And no one ever questioned it.  
  
"Xero. How's the GM Custom handling?"  
  
"Great! Definitely the best! You outdid yourself this time!"  
  
The purpose of the GM Custom was to test ideas to make those old GMs made back in 2004 obsolete. Joseph Prime, the designer of the first Mobile Suits, first attempt at new MS technology, the MS-05 Zaku, had been stolen about a year ago. Since then he'd worked hard to develop a NEW prototype. The resulting RGM-79N GM Custom was the quickest, most powerful MS design to date, and would probably not be surpassed for several years. His younger brother, Xero, was the only Mobile Suit pilot in America who had proven capable of piloting of the GM Custom.  
  
Shortly after the test, maintenance crews led by MS Pilot/mechanic Nikita Harte, AKA "Ice Bitch," went to work on the GMs. Nikita was rather young, at only 22, but was an excellent mechanic. She had a great figure, stood at about 5'6", shoulder-length blonde hair, and green eyes that seemed to pierce right into your soul.  
  
"So what's your impression of the GM Custom?" Joe asked. Joe was 26 years old. He was the man who took the disaster four years ago and turned it into the technology that has now developed Mobile Suits. He was about 6'2", with black hair in a crewcut. He was often sighted taking MS out for joyrides in the testing area. No one cared, though, as HE had developed the Mobile Suits.  
  
"It's fast. So fast it's almost scary. I could barely handle it. Will it even be possible for a normal pilot to handle this thing in combat?"  
  
Xero was about to get his answer. In the western area of the base, a series of explosions occurred, taking out several hangars. Emergency sirens blared.  
  
"We're under attack by five squadrons of Zaku-type Mobile Suits! Black team, scramble! Form a defensive line!"  
  
Xero went into full soldier mode. "Ready the GM Custom! Load it up with everything you can!"  
  
"We need ten minutes to charge the beam saber, plus ten more to load the Vulcan and machine guns! We need 20 minutes!"  
  
"You got ten! Get to work!"  
  
Joe knew better than to try and stop Xero. "You heard him! Get goin'!"  
  
Twelve minutes later, the GM Custom finally left the hangar. The other MS Teams, equipped with older-model GMs, had taken severe damages. The enemy force had barely been touched. Xero had no time to assess the situation. "Brown, Black, and Red Teams pull back and cover me! Blue team, fall in on me!"  
  
The five remaining GMs on Blue Team got into formation behind Xero. "Punch through the middle! Split 'em apart! Gold team, take the right flank!"  
  
And so, they charged, weapons blazing. Forcing the enemy Zakus to break formations. Gold team, from their flanking position, easily began pounding the Zaku pilots. It's obvious that up until now, the enemy had been winning only because of the superior technology taken from the stolen Zaku. With the arrival of the even more advanced GM Custom, and the tactics change, the obviously inexperienced pilots began to fall like flies. They were quickly forced to retreat.  
  
"Nice work, Xero. I'd say we can consider this defining test of the GM Custom."  
  
"Can it, Joe. Let's help the cleanup."  
  
One month later, Joe, Xero, and Nikita were summoned to Colonel Johnson's office.  
  
"Reporting as ordered, sir!"  
  
"At ease. I have been notified of a matter of the utmost concern. The governments of America, England, Russia, and Japan have just met. Apparently all of these countries have suffered similar attacks to the one we suffered a week ago. They've agreed to take action. The best scientists and pilots from all these countries are to join the newly-formed Alliance."  
  
"Alliance?"  
  
"It is the name being given to a massive task force created to hunt down the ones responsible for this, and locate whatever financial backing has allowed them to mass-produce the Zakus." Joe hung his head in shame that his creation had done such damage. "Relax, Joe. It's not considered your fault. You've all been called here because you'll be doing the most important jobs in our section of the Alliance." He handed them each a folder.  
  
Joe read his, "Head of Mobile Suit and equipment development?"  
  
"Yes. Your GM Custom is currently the most powerful Mobile Suit on Earth. They want it mass-produced for use by the Alliance, and they want it improved upon."  
  
Xero read his, "Head MS Pilot for all Alliance forces?!"  
  
"Your skill in piloting the GM Custom, and your leadership abilities shown during the battle have led to this decision."  
  
Nikita read her own file, "Head of mechnical repairs on Grey Phantom assault unit? Huh?"  
  
Joe spotted something else in his file, his first assignment in his position. "I think I know what that means. My first instructions are to design a aerial combat battleship and Mobile Suit transport for use by the most elite members of the Alliance. I surmise that would be Grey Phantom."  
  
"Precisely. Mass-production of the GM Custom is not a big problem, however proper order in the Alliance was determined to be best maintained by creating a special section for the elite. Hence Grey Phantom. Members of Grey Phantom have authority over all of the Alliance, regardless of rank, with the exception of the Alliance Supreme Commander. You have two weeks leave before your tasks are to begin. I suggest you enjoy it."  
  
"Sir!" They salute and left…  
  
Chapter 1: Wars of Innocents  
  
April 18th, 2008  
  
Furinkan High was one of two focal points of chaos in Nerima. The other being Tendo dojo. However, today Furinkan would be where the source of all the chaos, one Ranma Saotome, would make a choice that would end the chaos. Of course, he did not know this as he blazed through the gates. He was VERY late and today he didn't even stop for Kuno's rambling. Rather, he simply ran over Kuno and continued on in.  
  
During lunch, Akane stared, fuming, as Ranma ordered Okonomiyaki from Ukyo.  
  
"You know, Akane, you really need to relax."  
  
"Shut up, Nabiki! Just LOOK at that pervert! He's ALWAYS doing this!"  
  
"You need a distraction, Akane. Maybe you should go on a vacation to relax."  
  
"No way! That pervert would be all over Shampoo, Ukyo and probably even Kodachi!"  
  
"Well, suit yourself. I'll see you tonight."  
  
"Huh? Where are you going?"  
  
"I hear some new weapon is being delivered to the Alliance. I'm going to the base to try and get some pictures."  
  
"The Alliance? That's just a regular base, Nabiki. There's no Alliance facilities anywhere near here."  
  
"I beg to differ, Akane. I've found evidence that it's just a cover. Apparently, it's a research base."  
  
"Wait a minute Na-"  
  
BOOM!!! All heads turned to see an explosion in the distance.  
  
Akane's friend Yuka spotted something out of the corner of her eye. "Look!" All heads turned, "An Alliance Mobile Suit!"  
  
Indeed it was. The 50-foot GM Custom wasn't 100 feet from the school ground when it got shot up by a Zaku and went down. It soon became clear it wasn't the only suit. There were Mobile Suits fighting all over Nerima. One in particular caught Nabiki's eye. It ws like a GM, only bulkier. It had an almost human-like face, with a red protrusion on the bottom, almost like it was sticking it's tounge out. On top there was a gold V-fin. It was moving faster than ANY Alliance GM or Japanese Leo could. Nabiki was so caught up in the sight she failed to notice another GM crash down onto the school grounds. The pilot climbed out, barely able to move.  
  
Ranma was there in the blink of an eye, but the man had already dropped down dead. "Damn…" Glancing into the cockpit, it looked relatively intact. A bullet from a Zaku had torn through the right viewscreen, rendering it useless. But all the controls seems just fine. What should I do?!  
  
Ranma knew if he tried to pilot the Suit, he probably wouldn't be able to manage it. He'd probably be killed the moment the suit was seen moving. And if he DID manage it, he'd have to kill. He hated killing. He even hated killing Saffron. Still, wasn't it a martial artist's duty to protect those who couldn't protect themselves? Glancing back at the battle, he saw two more GMs go down, and saw two Zakus, and one model MS he;d never seen before, destroy a few buildings. He might up his mind right then and there. He jumped into the cockpit.  
  
"Ranma! Are you crazy?!" Akane yelled.  
  
"Let's see… How does this work?" He'd managed to close the cockpit, and the GM powered up automatically. But he need to figure out how to operate it. "These pedals must control the legs… And these handle the arms…"  
  
After fumbling around for a while, he managed to get the GM on it's feet. About that time a Zaku stopped him and took aim. Ranma desperately searched for the wapons controls.  
  
Akane saw the Zaku taking aim and looked away only a few seconds before gunfire rang out. But the GM didn't fall. Slowly, just looked back and saw Ranma had fired, not the Zaku. The Zaku had taken some vital hits from the GM's Vulcan and went down.  
  
Inside, Ranma was getting the hang of the controls and was soon on his way. He soon found out he'd wasted all his Vulcan ammo on that Zaku and the beam rifle had two more shots left. Preferring fists over guns, he tucked the rifle into the hardpoint on the shield which the computer showed him, and having quickly mastered the controls, he went bout taking out the Zakus hand-to-hand.  
  
This caught the eye of Xero Prime. "Who's piloting that GM?! Gundam to Grey Phantom! Identify the pilot of Blue 4."  
  
"Blue 4?" Joe asked. "Blue 4 was reported going down near a high school."  
  
"Then that's not the pilot in the registry, I'll bet."  
  
Ranma had no trouble disabling the Zakus hand-to-hand, but the unidentified suits were another deal. The big purple ones could hover around at high seeds and dodge his attacks, and the blue Zaku-like ones had hopped onto a bunch of airplanes and were out of range of his thrusters' jumping ability. "Damn… Didn't count on this… I need to keep more up-to-date with technology in the future." Deciding long-range combat was the best choice, he grabbed the beam rifle. Finding it had recharged somewhat and now had five shots. "Now if I can just figure out how to AIM this damn thing!!" He had five targets, so every shot had to count.  
  
"Gundam to the pilot of Blue 4! Come in!"  
  
Ranma, noting the designation given to this unit, responded with a simple, "What do you want, I'm busy!"  
  
Xero took a good look at the person in the cockpit of Blue 4. He looked unsure of himself. "The targeting unit is on the backside of the right arm control. Flip the switch and it'll do the rest. Be careful, it's not completely accurate."  
  
"Not completely accurate?!"  
  
"Don't worry. It hits 90% of the time."  
  
"Very reassuring." Ranma took aim at a target near the outside of town.  
  
"DON'T!!!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Don't shooot targets on the ground with the beam rifle so close to the city. You'll wipe out half the town if it hits the reactor!"  
  
"Damn…" Ranma then noticed the suit in question was taking aim with a HUGE bazooka. Then a beam punctured the cockpit. The fancy-looking suit had shoved it's beam saber through the cockpit only.  
  
"Use the beam saber on the Doms. You take those Goufs up there with your beam rifle."  
  
Ranma did just that. Once he got the hang of it he shot down all three Goufs with ease. Then he noticed a piece heading for Furinkan. The impact took a chunk off. He noticed it was going to land right on top of…  
  
"AKANE!!" Ranma urged the Suit foreward and stopped the falling debris from crushing his fiancée. Then he carefully picked her up.  
  
"Hey, I gotta get her outta here!"  
  
"Follow me!" Before they could, the started getting peppered by fire from above. A squadron of Goufs was coming in. Before they could to anything about it, a beam had shot down three Goufs. Several volleys of beam irfle fire followed as several Leos arrived on the scene, led by a single GM Custom.  
  
"What? Do I have to do EVERYTHING around here?!"  
  
"Hahaha, you the bitch, Nikita!"  
  
"Joe says to get back to the ship so he can talk to that pilot."  
  
"On my way. Hey, kid, follow me!"  
  
"No problem."  
  
Ranma followed Xero to where the ship waited. "Inside." And with that, they boarded the ship.  
  
Joe was waiting for them inside. "Where's the pilot?"  
  
As if on cue, Ranma exited the GM.(after setting Akane down, that is) and Joe approached him.  
  
"Nice piloting out there. What's your name, kid?"  
  
"Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes martial arts."  
  
"I'm Joseph Prime, captain of the Grey Phantom."  
  
"Nice to meet you. Now I have to get back to Nerima."  
  
"Can't allow that."  
  
"WHAT?! WHY?!" Both Ranma and Akane shouted simultaneously.  
  
"You've both come in contact with a classified section of the Alliance. I can only offer you two things: You can join up and help, or you'll have to be thrown in the brig until the War ends."  
  
Ranma and Akane were stunned. They had not expected this.  
  
"Captain!" Someone shouted over the com, "Radar is detecting a squadron of Goufs and Dodai-YS incoming."  
  
"Ready the Gundam for action!" Xero shouted as he climbed in. "Nikita, reopen the Gundam Mark II for Aerial Combat."  
  
"Roger!" Nikita ran over to the equipment controls and replaced the clip on the Gundam's beam rifle, added two extra clips to the hardpoint on the right arm, removed the shield from the left (replacing it with two more clips) and replaced the shoulder units with the Aerial Combat Wings.  
  
"Aerial Combat mode, CAS complete!"  
  
Xero cracked his knuckles before igniting the engines and launching, "LET'S ROCK!!!"  
  
"I have to get back to the bridge. Nikita will lead you to a room you can rest in. Let her know when you make up your mind." With that, Joe left and Nikita led them off to another room.  
  
Once they were alone… "Ranma, what'll we do?"  
  
"I don't know, Akane. I don't want you to get involved in this, but I don't wanna see you thrown in the brig, either. I've already made up my mind. I made my choice when I jumped in that Mobile Suit."  
  
"Ranma, no!! This is a war!!"  
  
"I kow that, Akane. But I can't just stand by like this. We both know I HATE killing people, but I have to defend those who can't defend themselves…"  
  
"If you're going to help, so am I."  
  
"Let's just hope they have something an uncute tomboy like you can handle."  
  
"RRRRAAAANNNNMMMMAAAA!!!!!" Akane's mallet hand flexed and the entire ship shook as Ranma was smashed into the wall.  
  
On the bridge… "Did we take a hit?! Gimme a report!"  
  
"No damage reported, sir!"  
  
In the MS Hangar…  
  
"Any damage to the equipment?!"  
  
"No, ma'am. Everything's okay."  
  
A few hours later…  
  
"So we've finally got some new pilots on the ship." Joe said  
  
"Not sure about that yet, sir. We can verify Ranma's piloting ability but on the other hand, Akane hasn't even seen the inside of an MS cockpit, yet."  
  
"Xero, test her immediately."  
  
A few minutes later Ranma and Akane were in the hangar awaiting Xero's instructions.  
  
"Welcome to the Alliance Grey Phantom assault force. I'm hoping this won't prove to be a mistake."  
  
"Nothin' can go wrong while I'm here!" Ranma exclaimed  
  
"If your skills in an MS cockpit improve at the rate they did out there today, I have no worried about you. You're almost as good as me. It's Akane that worries me."  
  
"Are you saying I'm useless?!"  
  
"Not at all. You just haven't been tested yet so we have no measure of your skill. That's why we're here. Suit up, we're doing a test flight!"  
  
Akane was given a crash-course in MS piloting by Nikita while Xero went over the equipment Ranma hadn't used yet with him. Within two hours they'd launched. Akane was having trouble making her MS walk.  
  
"Akane, you're putting too much force on the foot pedals. Ease up a bit." She did so. "That's better. Remember the harder you push, the more the legs move. You need to gain skill in walking before you go all-out and make the suit RUN."  
  
Akane was in a standard-type U.S.-issue GM. Ranma was mastering the controls in the GM Custom while Xero ran Akane through the basics. A few hours after the testing began, it was done. Xero went to the bridge. "Sir! I have my report from Akane's testing."  
  
"And?"  
  
"She's got the basics down, but she needs some more training. But I think with her determination we'll make a good pilot out of her within a week."  
  
"Sounds good. Is that all?"  
  
"Just the issue of her impulsiveness. It worries me that she might defy orders a little too much."  
  
"A bridge we'll have to cross when we come to it. Continue to train her."  
  
"Sir!" Xero saluted and left.  
  
"Xero, no need for the formalities when we're not on a base, okay?  
  
"Of course, Joe."  
  
In Ranma & Akane's room, Ranma was doing something important with Akane(No, no no! CLEAR YOUR MINDS, YOU PERVERTS!): Giving her some tips on control a Mobile Suit. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.  
  
"Come in." Ranma said. Xero did so.  
  
"I have the results of the test and orders from the captain."  
  
"I'm useless, aren't I?"  
  
"On the contrary, Akane. Most MS pilots take weeks before they can do anything beyond making the suit WALK. YOU, however, are almost ready to start practicing with weapons. The captain wants you out there every day practicing until we reach our next stop: A military base in Moscow."  
  
"Why're we going to Moscow?"  
  
"To drop off that crappy old GM you're using and picking up a new model."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"That GM you're using isn't a standard-issue Alliance GM. It was recovered from a battle in order to fill in for MS we'd lost."  
  
"Xero." Ranma spoke up, "Since we're now members of the Alliance, you mind tellin' us what's goin' on?"  
  
"I guess I should start from the beginning. Four years ago, my brother, who was only 18 at the time, developed the first Mobile Suit: The GM. It became the standard military ground unit in most countries, but as most know, Japan made their own types of MS instead. A couple years later, Joe decided to improve on the design, make it more compact, and therefore cheaper, like the Leos made by the Japanese government. His design, the Zaku, was stolen right after the prototpe was built. The government didn't worry, fairly confident that whoever took it couldn't produce it. A year later he developed a new project to improve the GM and he created the first GM Custom. I was testing it when a force of Zakus attacked the base. We barely repelled them. That's when the Alliance formed. The initial purpose of the Alliance was to track down what was then thought to be just a bunch of terrorists, and whatever finiancial backing allowed them to produce the Zaku. The Grey Phantom assault force is the head of the Alliance. Regardless of rank on this ship, you have authority over ALL Alliance personnel EXCEPT for the Alliance Supreme Commander."  
  
"I see…"  
  
"Two months ago, all-out war broke out with the enemy. They call themselves the 'Lords of New Order.' Not only have they produced the Zaku in HEAVY numbers, they've improved upon the design. When the ar broke out, the Alliance, and it's all-powerful GM Customs, became the front-line combat unit against the L.O.N.O. forces. We have no idea where their main base is."  
  
"What's so special about the different MS types?" Akane asked, "If we're gonna be here, we might as well know this stuff."  
  
Ranma had looked bored with the history lesson, but the idea of knowing the equipment he'll need had woken him right up.  
  
"Glad you asked." Xero said as he walked over the viewscreen. Punching in a few commands, an image of the suit Akane was in popped up. "This is a standard-type U.S.A. Mobile Suit. The Alliance avoids using them in combat but uses them mostly for training new pilots." The image switched to a GM Custom, "This is the mass-production variant of the GM Custom. The same suit Ranma's using. It's performance has been boosted to allow for quicker maneuvers and harder hitting. Unlike the GM, the GM Custom can use beam rifles, which are the most powerful MS-scale weapons available." It switched to what looked like an armored GM Custom, "This is what we're on our way to retrieve. Akane'll be using it. This is the GM Cannon. It was designed for medium-ange fire support but can handle close-range combat when necessary. The added weight from extra armor decreases it's speed and agility, but the extra-powerful flight-capable thrusters, and the extensive punishment it can take compensate for that. The armor was designed to prevent the suit from being knocked down by the force of it's own beam cannons."  
  
"What about that suit you were in?" Ranma asked, "It's pretty cool lookin'."  
  
"That's the Gundam Mark II. In the early days of the alliance, new MS technologies were tested on a special Mobile Suit called Gundam. Gundam was unique because of it's internal structure, but I won't go into that. Everntually Gundam got thrown in a storage warehouse after the GM Custom production type made it obsolete. Later on it was pulled out and re-worked into the Gundam Mark II. As you two saw, it has flight equipment available to it, but can only maitain constant flight for 30 minutes."  
  
"And the enemy units?" Akane inquired.  
  
"No data. We only know that they're upgrade of the Zaku, and that the Goufs can fly on a type of fighter-bomber and that Doms can hover along the ground at VERY high speeds.  
  
"Let's hope this equipment does us well."  
  
"Akane, your next training session begins at 6:00 tomorrow morning."  
  
"You make it sound like martial arts training." Ranma stated  
  
"I'm fine with that. Though I wish Ranma was as willing to train me better in the Art."  
  
"Why should I train an uncute tomboy-"  
  
"RAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNMMMMMMAAAAA!!!!!" Again, Ranma is on the receiving end of the mallet.  
  
All over the ship people scrambled to make sure everything was working okay…  
  
End chapter one.  
  
Next chapter: Akane continues her training and meets her GM Cannon in Moscow. And then gets her first taste of combat when the base is attacked by Doms! Then, at base in England, Xero gets a surprise gift from the scientists of the Alliance!  
  
Author notes: This fic is temporarily on hold. I focused too hard on it and Flights of the Nova Cat, and therefore was unable to deliver on my promise to release a rewrite of my fanfic Kagome's Heritage alongside this. This fic is on hold until the rewrite of Kagome's Heritage is out. 


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma Gundam 2008  
  
Chapter 2: Weapons of War  
  
Two weeks had passed since Akane and Ranma had been picked up by the Grey Phantom Assault Unit. Their training had been steadily progressing. As expected, Akane's impulisveness and temper had proved a problem. However, Xero and Nikita are working on that and Akane has calmed down some. But they still worry that they can't completely reverse the problem… Which brings us to the current conversation between Xero and Ranma.  
  
"Ranma, I need to talk to you about Akane. There's only so much me and Nikita can do to reduce her temper."  
  
"Well, what do you want me to do?"  
  
"Train her. If you teach her, at the very least, some way to calm herself, she'll be a much better pilot. Less likely to rush out and get herself, or others, killed."  
  
Ranma hadn't thought about it. He'd been using the Soul of Ice to an extent to keep himself calm while piloting, and had never realized that if Akane fought in Mobile Suit battles like the enemy was the long-gone "Hentai Horde" she'd be screwed. (Author: I also don't think she can whip out an MS- scale mallet while piloting, if you get my implications) "I'll look into it."  
  
The red alert siren blared and a voice sounded over the intercom, "Red alert! One squadron of Goufs detected, approaching fast! One Musai confirmed as well! General quarters! GM Customs, Gundam, prepare for aerial combat!"  
  
All rushed to the hangar, Nikita and Ranma boarded their GM Customs. Xero stopped Akane before she could board the standard GM. "You're staying here."  
  
"No way! I'm gonna fight, too! NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!"  
  
"TENDO! The standard GM has ZERO flight capabilities. It's useless right now."  
  
"….I see…."  
  
"Blair! You and Akane man the portside beam cannons!"  
  
"Yes, sir! Come on, Tendo." Blair led Akane off to the gun turrets.  
  
Meanwhile, outside the ship…  
  
"Ranma, the GM Custom can only maintain flight for ten minutes before the engine needs to cool down. Try not to stray too far from a point you can land. Stay close to the Grey Phantom or the Musai."  
  
"Got it."  
  
On the bridge…  
  
"Prepare for ship-to-ship battle! Charge the beam cannons and ready the missiles! Close the blast shield!"  
  
"Closing the blast shield." The defensive shielding closed down over the windows on the bridge.  
  
"Musai is in range of our beam cannons."  
  
"OPEN FIRE!"  
  
Outside the ship, Ranma was pushing his GM harder than ever before in training. The Goufs had the advantage in the air, thanks to the Dodai YS units, but Ranma beat them out on pure skill. He soon noticed he was getting low on flight time… And that the Musai was the only landing point. "Hmm… Xero! Tell the Grey Phantom to hold their fire for a minute!"  
  
Xero noticed Ranma landing, and aiming his rifle, and knew what he was thinking, so he relayed the message.  
  
On the bridge…  
  
"Hold our fire?! What for?!"  
  
"Give the order, Joe! Ranma's landing on the Musai and I think he's planning to take out the mega particle guns while his engines cool down. Nikita, get over there and cover him. I can handle the Goufs."  
  
"Roger!"  
  
"I see. All guns, cease fire!"  
  
And so they did.  
  
But as soon as they did, some of the mega particle cannons aimed towards Ranma… But they were the first to be slashed off by Ranma's beam saber.  
  
While Ranma was slicing up the Musai, Xero was smashing the Goufs with much ease. Just after he'd finished off the last Gouf, Ranma lifted off, and the Grey Phantom finished off the Musai at close range.  
  
"Good move, there, Ranma. Risky, but good. No one's ever taken a Mobile Suit one-on-one with a battlecruiser before."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Usually we leave it to the other ships. If one's available. If there isn't, we use tons of suits to gang up on it."  
  
"If one's available?"  
  
"Battlecruisers aren't too common for either side. More resources go into MS and smaller-sized MS transports. Battlecruisers are difficult to build, and therefore uncommon. However, when they show up, they're a Mobile Suit's biggest problem. A properly skilled crew can wipe out an entire star of MS with little trouble."  
  
"Sounds like a problem."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
A voice blared over the intercom, "We have suffered no casualties from the battle. We will be arriving at the Moscow Alliance base in 12 hours. That is all."  
  
"Better get some rest." Ranma said, And start Akane's training…  
  
12 hours later…  
  
"All hands, we will be landing shortly. All crew members will have 24 hours time to themselves, with the exception of: Xero Prime, Nikita Harte, Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo, and myself. That is all."  
  
"How come no time off for us?" Akane wondered.  
  
"Two reasons, one being the fact that you're getting your MS as soon as we land. Plus, the Alliance Supreme Commander will be at the base and wishes to see you two."  
  
"Oh."  
  
A few minutes later, they had landed, and secured everything. "Well, Tendo, let's go meet your new Mobile Suit. Follow me."  
  
Xero led Akane and Ranma (who decided to stick with Akane) to one of the hangars. Inside was what looked like a GM Custom with some armor added on. I had two large cannons on it's shoulders. "Here it is. The GM Cannon isn't as fast as the GM Custom, but it can take MUCH more punishment than even the Gundam, and dish out twice as much as the GM Custom. The slow speed is also compensated for by the thrusters, which can sustain flight for 20 minutes. This unit is intended for medium-range combat, with close-range combat ability in case of emergency."  
  
Akane was already inside. "Not much different from the other one…"  
  
"We try to keep the controls similar to other models. You'll notice it'll be a bit harder to make it move, but I'm not worried about you figuring it out. How about a test fli-"  
  
BOOM! The adjacent hangar went up into a ball of flame. Air raid sirens went off.  
  
"All MS units, scramble! We are under attack by Dom-type Mobile Suits!"  
  
"Akane, wait for Ranma to get here in his GM to cover you until you get the hang of that thing!"  
  
"Okay…"  
  
Xero blinked. "Did she just agree with me without arguing?!"  
  
"She's really getting into the training. And I told her that if she caused any trouble, I'd stop training her."  
  
"Good move." They were now on the ship.  
  
"Nikita! We good to go?!"  
  
"Yeah! Gundam's in ground combat mode and fully armed, my GM's ready, but Ranma's GM still needs it's spare clips. It'll take five minutes to get them on." I need to fix the GM arming units so this'll be easier…  
  
"Ranma, get in Nikita's GM and go cover Akane. Nikita! When you get that GM loaded up, you go out on it!"  
  
"No problem!"  
  
"Let's MOVE!"  
  
In the space of two minutes, Ranma and Xero were stepping out of the ship. Other Alliance GM Customs had already deployed and were fighting the Doms. "Ranma, get to the hangar and cover Akane!"  
  
Meanwhile, said person was scrambling to get her suit OUT of the hangar before it collapsed. An explosion just outside had weakened it and it was only a matter of time before it went down. Forget my orders! I'm not dying in a Mobile Suit without fighting!  
  
Unfortunately, she found the GM Cannon harder to control than expected, and BARELY made it out of the hangar.. And she quickly ended up looking down the barrel of a Dom's bazooka.  
  
"AAAHH!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Panicking, the fired the beam cannons, completely destroying the Dom's torso. "….Whoa…."  
  
"Akane! You okay?!"  
  
"Yeah. Just give me a minute to get used to this."  
  
"Ranma!" Xero shouted "Five Doms behind you!"  
  
Ranma spun around and sliced them all apart with the beam saber, in one slash…  
  
"I think I got it now…"  
  
Indeed, Akane was finally moving the GM Cannon with little difficulty. "Stick with me, Akane."  
  
"Ranma, Akane." This time Joe was speaking, "The Doms are making a break for Grey Phantom. Get over here and cover us."  
  
Ranma didn't need to be told twice.  
  
Neither did Akane.  
  
Unfortunately, they found the Doms at Grey Phantom in such high numbers it was difficult to fight. However, they were so focused on Grey Phantom, that (between the Grey Phantom and base forces) over half had been downed before they realized they were being attacked from behind. With such damage to their forces, they had to retreat.  
  
Akane had downed 11 Doms. On her first deployment. Nikita and her were talking about that while resting from the cleanup operation following the battle.  
  
"11 doesn't sound too impressive, but it's great. The only person who had more kills their first time out was Xero!"  
  
"Still, I don't think it's something to be proud of."  
  
"I do. Akane, if the LONO forces win this war, god knows what it means. Your whole family could be killed for some weird, stupid reason!"  
  
Joe's voice blared over the loudspeakers on the base. "All Grey Phantom crew members return to the ship. We are departing in one hour."  
  
"Where to?" Akane wondered.  
  
"When the attack began, the Supreme Commander, whom we were supposed to meet, was evacuated. We're going to a secret Alliance research base near London, England to meet him. I hear they have a gift for us at the base."  
  
"A gift? Like what?"  
  
"Well… I don't know but…" Nikita suddenly got hearts in her eyes. "MAYBE IT'LL BE A NEW GUNDAM!"  
  
Akane's facefault could be heard throughout the base.  
  
About an hour later, Grey Phantom was lifting off and departing.  
  
"So, how long of a trip will this be?" asked Ranma.  
  
"About a week." Replied Xero  
  
"A WEEK?!" Akane shouted.  
  
"Yep." Replied Nikita. "The Grey Phantom's engines were damaged in the fight and there weren't enough supplies left at Moscow to repair them. Therefore we have to take it easy, so the engines don't explode on us."  
  
"Well on the upside, Ranma, the more time you spend off Terra Firma, the less you have to deal with all those fiancées."  
  
"Heh. By now they're probably all off searching for where I ran off to with Akane. They'll never find us."  
  
"Hey, Xero!" Blair shouted, running into the hangar, "The Captain sent this down." He handed Xero a piece of paper.  
  
"Oh, man, Ranma, you are SCREWED!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"After we're done in London we're to return to Japan to get some new MS pilots."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Here's the list of pilots currently pushing for position on Grey Phantom: Todd Marshall, Fred Kristoph, Ukyo Kuonji, and Xian-Pu."  
  
Both Ranma AND Akane froze at the last two.  
  
"My thoughts exactly."  
  
Nikita leaned in towards Akane. "You better make a move quick, girl!"  
  
Akane was in no condition to respond.  
  
Shortly after, Grey Phantom departed for London.  
  
The trip, fortunately, was uneventful. A very good thing since Grey Phantom was nowhere NEAR full combat capacity. Ranma and Akane spent every moment not training praying the kami that Ukyo and Shampoo did NOT get the positions on Grey Phantom.  
  
Shortly before arrival in London…  
  
"So how do you think Ukyo and Shampoo found out where we were?" Akane wondered.  
  
"Nabiki." Ranma answered simply.  
  
"You don't honestly think…?"  
  
"I do. She was there. She saw me get in the GM and she probably saw us board the ship. Putting two and two together, she probably routinely checked their personnel files and sold them the info as soon as we were listed on active duty. Now as for them getting so far, so quickly…"  
  
"That can be explained by way of Nabiki, as well." Xero stated, approaching from behind. It's quite possible she was paid to do computer tampering to get them in. It's not difficult to master MS Piloting. ESPECIALLY when the pilot is a martial artist. And it wouldn't surprise me if she was paid to get them into the program for testing to get onto the Grey Phantom."  
  
"Why not just change things so they're listed as the new crew members?"  
  
"Wouldn't work. Grey Phantom's files are carefully monitored. If she accessed them, she'd be tracked down and arrested. And she knows it."  
  
"All hands, we will be arriving at the London research base in 30 minutes. We will be taking on repairs and new equipment while there."  
  
Radar operator Phil John spoke up shortly before landing procedures were to begin. "Captain! We've confirmed two Musais and an unknown type of battlecruiser! They're deploying Mobile Suits!"  
  
"Notify the base and launch all units. Any airborne units?"  
  
"One squadron of Goufs."  
  
"Prepare Gundam for aerial combat!"  
  
In the hangar, Ranma and Nikita were already prepared to launch. Akane had just arrived and was powering up her suit, and Xero was converting Gundam to Aerial Combat Mode.  
  
"Ranma, you and Akane take the Doms and Zakus on the ground. Me and Nikita will handle the Goufs."  
  
"Got it."  
  
With that, the MS launched. Nikita and Xero had little trouble with the Goufs, but on the ground…  
  
Ranma Akane had been handling the Doms just fine, when what was THOUGHT to have been a squadron of Zakus finally showed itself.  
  
"Ranma, what are those?!" Akane asked.  
  
Ranma had no clue. They looked kind of like Doms, only slimmer, and with slightly more Zaku-like heads. Worst of all…. They had beam rifles.  
  
"AKANE! GET DOWN!"  
  
Akane hit the ground just barely avoiding a volley of beam weaponry.  
  
"Saotome to Grey Phantom, we're engaged with unidentified Mobile Suits! They have beam rifles!"  
  
Xero and Nikita picked up the transmission. "Nikita, I can handle the Goufs. You go help them, after I finish the Goufs I'll switch to Ground Combat Mode and help out."  
  
"Understood." Nikita landed her suit (the engines were starting to overheat, anyway) just BEHIND the enemy MS. Unnoticed, she took aim, and…  
  
Ranma and Akane watched a beam punch through THREE of the MS, destroying them. They took the distraction to their advantage, Akane letting loose almost-unaimed blasts from the beam cannons. Ranma let loose with his beam rifle.  
  
Nikita kept hidden and played Sniper with the unidentified MS. Soon they were forced to retreat.  
  
Meanwhile, the Grey Phantom had landed inside the base while five Salamis battlecruisers took care of the enemy ships.  
  
Joe stepped out of the ship, met by base commander Max Gheng. "Welcome to London, Captain."  
  
"Good to be here."  
  
"Shall we get started?"  
  
"Once my pilots return from the battle. I don't engage in important Alliance business without them. My pilots are my most trusted soldiers."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Akane." Nikita said as they headed into the base, "How's your suit holding up?"  
  
"I think I overheated the beam cannons from firing so much. Other than that, nothing's coming up on the computer."  
  
"Good, then all the visible damage is only to the armor. Looks like that stuff's doin' it's job good. Ranma, you don't look too bad, but is there anything I can't see?"  
  
"Yeah, something's wrong with the left hand. I couldn't use it at all."  
  
"I'll take a look at it."  
  
They arrived at the base and met up with Joe. Then it was off to an important meeting.  
  
Several of the top Alliance officials were in the room. Everyone took a seatthat had been prepared for them.  
  
"So." Joe stated. "What's this about?"  
  
Alliance Supreme Commander Jack Meoff [;)], seated at the end of the table, spoke up. "The issue of where LONO gets it's financial support has been our greatest concern lately. We have isolated very little, but what we have is important." He nodded to a man seated near the other end of the table, who stood up to speak.  
  
"We have determined that a multi-national corporate conglomerate, known as Illuminati, is responsible for the financial backing. However, at the same time that all signs verify it's existence, it does not exist. None of our attempts to locate anything related to them has been successful."  
  
"Which means the only way to get to Illuminati…" Xero began.  
  
"…Is through LONO." Joe finished.  
  
"Wait…"  
  
"Do you have something to add, Saotome?" The Supreme Commander inquired.  
  
"Yeah. It's a longshot and you might not be willing to do it, but it might work."  
  
"Please."  
  
"Akane's sister Nabiki is an expert at tracking down people and information. She might be able to help… For a price…"  
  
"We'll be sure to keep that in mind. That'll be all for now. I believe our scientists have something for Xero."  
  
With that, everyone was dismissed, and the head technological researcher led the Grey Phantom crew elsewhere on the base.  
  
In the meeting room, the Supreme Commander remained with his intelligence officer. "Colonel, I want you to send some men to Nerima to discuss the issue with Miss Tendo's sister. Make sure not to do anything forcefully. And offer her a generous sum for her services."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
Elsewhere on the base, Xero, accompanied by Akane, Ranma, and Joe, were being led through the halls of the technological development center.  
  
"So what's this gift you have for me?"  
  
"Well, Lieutenant, ever since we got the data on the Gundam Mk. II's combat effectiveness, we've been attempting to improve upon it's modular design concept. We wanted to create a flight mode that didn't have time limits for airborne combat. The new Mobile Suit's conversion systems are compatible with the Mk. II's system." The man stopped in front of a door. "Mobile Suit development will be an important issue to win this war, and this is our greatest triumph to date. THIS is GP-01." And with that he opened the door, revealing the new Gundam. It was similar to the Mk. II. However, more streamlined and less bulky. "Stunning, isn't it? This is it's Ground Combat mode. It's capabilities are very similar to the Mk. II's, but it's much more agile. The air combat mode has near infinite flight capability and better maneuvering capabilities. This is the greatest Mobile Suit design to date."  
  
An explosion ripped through the base.  
  
"Red alert! All MS pilots scramble!! Three Musais approaching! Five MS Carriers! Suits are on the ground!!"  
  
"We'll deal with MS reassignment later." Joe spoke through the rising confusion. "Right now get your asses in gear! Get back to Grey Phantom and into your suits!"  
  
No one needed to be told twice.  
  
End chapter 2.  
  
Next chapter: Xero sorties in his new Gundam! Alliance Researchers see Ranma's skill and come up with an idea made specifically for HIM! Grey Phantom returns to Japan! Shampoo and Ukyo join the crew! And… The systematic destruction of LONO begins!!  
  
Author's note: I'm bound to receive comments on some obvious changes to my original MS assignment plan. So I will explain right now: A friend of mine suggested some better ideas, and after thinking a while, I realized they WERE better for the story. GP-01 is replacing the G-Saviour, and Ranma will NOT be getting the Kampfer. This is all I will state right now. You'll have to wait until we get there to find out what's what. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma Gundam 2008 By Tekkaman Xero  
  
Chapter 3: Old friends/rivals return! Unveil the Shining Gundam!  
  
"Emergency! Scramble all GMs! LONO forces are attacking the base!"  
  
The emergency sirens blared like a Banshee as the MS pilots scrambled to get out in their Mobile Suits. Only in one place were the sirens virtually unheard.  
  
In the hangar, the GP-01 was undergoing final checks before Xero went out. It was in Aerial Combat mode, and waiting for Xero to return from getting his deployment orders to his subordinates. The GP-01, the most advanced Mobile Suit to date, was not something it's builders were going to let launch if they were uncertain of whether or not it will work right.  
  
So when Xero returned after they checked for about the 187th time(that's an exaggeration, people!!), they felt it was ready to go.  
  
"Sir, be careful. It's a lot faster than the Mk. II, and more difficult to handle. Don't let it catch you off-guard."  
  
"Don't worry. I'm the Alliance's best MS pilot, after all." And without another word, he was in the cockpit, powering up the Gundam. Within 30 seconds he was up in the thick of the fighting.  
  
On the Grey Phantom, Nikita had just launched in the Mk. II. Followed closely by Ranma and Akane. Instead of her GM Cannon, Akane was in what was once Nikita's GM Custom, at Xero's recommendation.  
  
"Ranma, you and Akane go join the main force. I'm going to link up with Xero."  
  
"Got it." Ranma replied  
  
"Are you sure?" Akane asked "Can't Xero take care of himself?"  
  
"It never hurts to have some cover. He does need to adjust to the new Gundam." Just as much as I need to adjust to this!  
  
The two martial artist MS pilots broke off and joined the main group.  
  
"There's a lot of those new suits down here." Ranma commented.  
  
"At least 30 of them." A member of the battle group replied. "There's a group to the east that have a small group of GMs pinned down."  
  
"Akane, stay here. I'll handle it."  
  
"No! I'm-"  
  
"Akane!" Xero shouted, "Do as Ranma says! I think he has something planned."  
  
"You know me too well. If anyone follows, they'll just get in the way."  
  
Akane fumed at that, but calmed down when Nikita pointed out that included Xero as well.  
  
As for the GMs Ranma was going to save, it wasn't going well. They were among the first units out, having been on board a Salamis class cruiser that was leaving just as the enemy arrived. There had initially been 6, but four of them had been shot down. Only the CO and XO were still active. And that wasn't going to last long.  
  
Ranma came into view of the Gelgoogs attacking the GMs. After finding a well-hidden spot he could attack the eight Gelgoogs from, he powered down the reactor to the absolute minimum level for firing and targeting. Carefully taking aim at the cockpit of the nearest Gelgoog, he fired.  
  
Scratch one Gelgoog.  
  
The unit immediately adjacent to it noticed, unlike the rest of his group, that the shot had NOT come from the two GMs they were attacking, and turned towards where it had come from. Ranma noticed this and made it the next target. As the Gelgoog moved cautiously, he put himself in a perfect position for Ranma's next shot.  
  
Scratch three more Gelgoogs.  
  
THIS time the entire squad noticed. And their commander panicked. "That was only one shot!! He got three units!"  
  
The Gelgoogs hesitated.  
  
"GO!!" Lieutenant Commander Thomas Blue wasted no time in taking advantage of the enemy's hesitation. Both he and his XO moved out and made a charging attack, taking out one Gelgoog before they even realized what was happening.  
  
Ranma, seeing this, powered up the reactor to full and moved in, smashing a Gelgoog's cockpit in with the GM's shield while using his beam saber to slash apart another one.  
  
And how was Akane doing on HER end?  
  
Surprisingly well, for her first time in a GM Custom. Though the enemy force moving in was large, it consisted mostly of Zakus and Doms. Akane was more than capable of handling these two types of MS, but when a Gelgoog decided to enter close quarters combat with her, she found herself unable to fight back effectively. The Gelgoog was much faster than the GM Custom.  
  
"Stand still, damn you!!" Akane began firing the vulcans wildly, not having much success. "Dammit!!" How would Ranma do this? On that thought, Akane noticed the Gelgoog was doing two things: Toying with her, and following a repeating pattern. She came up with an idea of how to win.(1)  
  
Noticing it came within a certain distance of her each time it made an attack, she made a guess on when it would move in, and waited. It moved in precisely when she predicted it would, and as soon as it moved in, she charged forward with the beam saber drawn, catching the enemy pilot off- guard and resulting in the suit's destruction as the beam saber plowed through the reactor.  
  
In the air, Nikita and Xero were practically performing a dance routine as they fought off the Goufs and Dodai YS bombers. Each one would take any maneuvers necessary to avoid the fire from the two suits. But, since Nikita and Xero were experts at teamwork, every time a Gouf dodged one beam, two more would be fired. At least one of which would hit the Gouf.(2)  
  
On the Grey Phantom's bridge, Joe watched the battles from various screens. "This isn't like usual.. LONO usually sends small forces in a quick strike. They rarely do large-scale assaults like this."  
  
"Maybe they're getting desperate." the comm officer suggested  
  
"I doubt it. I get the feeling this had something to do with our meeting. This is no mere coincidence."  
  
"What do you mean, sir?"  
  
"They knew the Supreme Commander was supposed to be at the Moscow base, I think. They attacked there, and now here, where the Supreme Commander was diverted to. I think. We have a spy somewhere in the chain of command."  
  
"Captain, the enemy is beginning to retreat!"  
  
Sure enough, the enemy was retreating. Ranma noticed it shortly after systematically dismembering a Dom which tried to engage him in close combat.  
  
Xero and Nikita watched them pull back. "Weird."  
  
"What's wrong, Xero?"  
  
"They still had plenty of strength. They could have kept going. They gave up too easily."  
  
Joe's voice entered onto the com system, "All right, all Grey Phantom MS back to the ship. We have to get to Japan."  
  
Akane is starting to get a little OOC, I know. But in the middle of a war, people can, and WILL change. Also, Ranma has begun to train Akane, so that's had an effect as well. Remember that in this fic, the Gundam Mk. II carries two beam rifles in its aerial combat mode. Take that into account when picturing this battle.  
  
Japan. Ranma was dreading that, knowing of a certain two people pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. He hadn't forgiven Ukyo or Shampoo for their part in the failed wedding. And hew knew if they came along on the ship it'd be just like back in Nerima. The Alliance was just too light on the military disciplines.  
  
As they returned to the ship, Xero noticed the not-so-happy look on Ranma's face. "Worried about the possibility that your fiancés will end up here?"  
  
"Can't fool you, can I?"  
  
"I read people like books. And your face not noly tells the whole story, but it's practically screaming out 'READ ME, DAMMIT!'" Ranma couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "Don't worry. Me and my brother have already discussed it. IF they are assigned to the ship, we'll make sure they don't go overboard."  
  
"Thanks. But you realize-"  
  
"-it won't be easy. Trust me. From what you've told me, we know EXACTLY what buttons to push. I'll see you later. I have to bring the combat data from the new Gundam to my brother."  
  
"See ya."  
  
Up on the bridge.  
  
"Captain, I've brought the combat data for GP-01."  
  
"Good. And what about-"  
  
"I have Ranma's data, as well."  
  
"Good." Joe took the data disks from his brother and began to review them.  
  
"Um, Joe. Me and Nikita wanted to talk to you about something." as if on cue, Nikita stepped onto the bridge.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"It's about Ranma. We both noticed he's been trying to apply his martial arts skill to piloting his MS, but he can't do it very well. Even though he's adapted to the controls rather nicely."  
  
"Your point being?"  
  
"Sir," Nikita spoke up, "I've come up with a cockpit design that will allow him to fully integrate his martial arts into piloting the suit. Up to and including ki blasts."  
  
"I know of it. I was looking through your equipment designs the other day for anything that may be of help."  
  
"You knew?!"  
  
"And I've already sent it to the boys at the Japanese research branch. A new Gundam-type MS containing your Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit is nearing completion. I wanted Saotome to try it out from the moment I sent it."  
  
Xero leaned over and whispered to Nikita, "He's always one step ahead of us."  
  
"One more thing. DO NOT tell Ranma, OR Akane about this. No one is to know outside of this room until we get there."  
  
"Understood." They both replied.  
  
"Little surprise for him, huh?" Xero commented.  
  
"Exactly. Disimissed."  
  
They saluted, and left.  
  
In the hangar.  
  
Ranma was doing some repair work on his GM. He had recently found himself to have a natural talent for repairing things and found himself working on his GM most of the time that he wasn't spending on Akane's training.  
  
Nikita had been impressed with his talent. He had required only a blueprint of the GM's design before he was fixing every little problem his suit was suffering from. He had even helped Xero work on the Mk II back when it was Xero's MS.  
  
But now the Mk II was Nikita's MS. And NO ONE touched NIKITA'S toys!  
  
Xero climbed up to the cockpit where Ranma was currently working. "Hey, Ranma"  
  
"Yo, Xero. What's the word?"  
  
"We leave tomorrow. And with the engines at full speed, and upgraded, we should be in Japan in 36 hours. We've got the next 12 hours off if we choose. Wanna go get something to drink in town?"  
  
"Sure. I could use a break."  
  
Elsewhere on the ship, Nikita was working with Akane. One of Nikita's assignments had been to go over the MS controls with Akane and she currently had Akane running a simulation. One that had 5-to-1 odds AGAINST Akane. Needless to say, Akane went down hard.  
  
"Can't I try SOMETHING easier?"  
  
"There's NOTHING easier than this, Akane. On the battlefield, you need to be ready for even worse than that. I noticed you have one problem."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"You fire blindly with your beam rifle. It HAS a limit. Don't stop moving. Take time to target the enemy Mobile Suit. You notice that in martial arts it's a good idea to keep moving do you can dodge better, the same goes for piloting a Mobile Suit. You have to be ready, and constant movement helps. The Suits computer will compensate for any movements you're making while targeting. Now.. TRY AGAIN!!!"  
  
Akane eeped and did just that.  
  
Nerima, Japan, Tendo Dojo.  
  
Nabiki was annoyed. Ranma's Alliance file was untouchable. She'd been trying various ways to access it and see what the Alliance is saying about him for WEEKS. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open Ranma, or her sister's files. She'd long ago figured that Ranma's reason for not returning was that he'd joined the Alliance after that incident near Furinkan High.  
  
Turning off her computer, she went downstairs to relax, maybe watch some TV. As soon as she'd confirmed that Ranma and Akane had joined the Alliance, she'd sold the information to Ukyo and Shampoo, who immediately signed up and as far as she knew were pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. All Nabiki had been able to confirm was that Ranma and Akane were both Mobile Suit pilots on the Grey Phantom. That wasn't enough. She wanted to know EVERYTHING about anything in the Alliance concerning them.  
  
She'd only just sat down in front of the TV when Kasumi noticed the two large men in Alliance uniforms outside. "Oh, we have guests."  
  
"Excuse me, miss." The taller of the two spoke, "We need to speak with Nabiki Tendo."  
  
"That's m- uh-oh." Nabiki had not noticed the Alliance men before she rounded the corner after hearing the man ask for her.  
  
"You're Nabiki Tendo?"  
  
Nabiki did her best to not show the nervousness she felt. She had been trying to hack Alliance files so much lately that she could only assume these people were here concerning that fact. "Yes, I am."  
  
"We need to have a few words with you." He glanced at Kasumi, "in private."  
  
Nabiki led them to the dojo. "Talk fast. I have a feeling this is something I want to get done with quickly."  
  
"Your friend, Ranma Saotome, recommended we enlist your help in this. From what we understand, you can find out anything about anyone throughout most of Japan. For the right price."  
  
This took Nabiki a bit by surprise. She was expecting a confrontation concerning her recent hacking attempts. "That's right. There are limits to some things I can find, but I can find out almost anything you need to know."  
  
"Our intelligence members have had no luck in finding out information on any suspected LONO insiders. We hope a less suspicious civilian check might be overlooked by whoever's keeping them from the information."  
  
"Sounds to me like it'd be more suspicious."  
  
"Not entirely. Background checks are fairly common from civilians. Every Alliance member has to have a yearly psych evaluation and the doctors are given temporary database access to do some checks on their patients. Most Alliance soldiers go to psychologists that aren't in the military. This can prove helpful to you. We can set up a temporary access for you."  
  
Nabiki thought things over. Here were two Alliance officers, scratch that, one very important officer and a bodyguard, judging by how their standing and the fact that the other one hasn't said a word, offering her a chance to not only track down and pick out a traitor in the Alliance, but also giving her access in such a way that she could get the information on Ranma that she wanted. And they were offering to pay her. It didn't take too long to make up her mind. "Fine. Let's talk money, now."  
  
And two hours of negotiation began. When the Alliance officers left, Nabiki was standing there with her down payment of 1,000,000 yen. With another 2 mil to be paid after the job was done. She knew she had to get right on this.  
  
"Father! Nabiki! Mr. Saotome! Dinner's ready!"  
  
.After dinner, that is.  
  
A few hours later, over Asia, the Grey Phantom was now on it's way back to Japan.  
  
Nikita was doing some tweaking on HER Gundam's beam rifle, giggling like a little schoolgirl all the while.  
  
Akane was running some simulations in the cockpit of her GM.  
  
Xero and Ranma were doing maintenance on one of GP-01's spare Core Fighters..  
  
"Okay, Ranma, I think I got it, try it now!"  
  
As told, Ranma powered up to engines. And sparks immediately started flying.  
  
"WHOA! SHIT! TURN IT OFF!!! TURN IT OFF!!! TURNITOFF!!!!"  
  
And through it all, the Grey Phantom's captain couldn't bring himself to think positive about things. The way the LONO forces had attacked and retreated last time still bothered him, though it had been almost 2 days since the battle. Another thing that disturbed him is LONO usually struck at least three bases in a 24-hour period. But there had been no reported attacks since the last battle they were in. Joe wished he could take that as a GOOD sign, but he had a very bad feeling.  
  
"Xero! Nikita! Akane! Ranma! Blair!"  
  
All five dropped what they were doing and paid damn close attention to their commanding officer. "We'll be arriving at the Tokyo Alliance Research Center in five hours. And Ranma, I have bad news. Your fiances' requests to join the Grey Phantom were approved."  
  
"Oh, boy."  
  
"Don't worry, kid." Xero spoke, "We'll make sure they leave you alone."  
  
Ranma," Joe spoke again, "We have a surprise for you when we get there. It'll get you off the ship and away from them long enough for us to set the ground rules with them. See to it that you're ready to go as soon as we land."  
  
Xero threw in his two cents, "That means get your UNIFORM on."  
  
Akane wondered just WHAT they had for Ranma..  
  
Five hours later, the Grey Phantom began it's approach to the Tokyo Research Center. Once the ship had safely landed, a team of Alliance researchers met the disembarking group, which consisted of Ranma, Joe, and a few Grey Phantom technicians(Xero and Nikita were staying on the ship to "break in" the new crew members).  
  
"Welcome to the Tokyo Research Center. If you'll come with me, please."  
  
The group didn't waste time. "Captain, as per the specs we designed the unit to efficiently utilize the pilot's skills to their fullest potential. Including the small beam generators in the arms. This unit is just a prototype, mind you, and we can't guarantee it's ability to operate at it's full potential."  
  
"Don't worry. I'm sure that between Nikita, Xero, and Ranma we can work out any kinks as we come to them."  
  
Soon after they were led to a Mobile Suit hangar. Joe stopped the group before turning in. "Ranma, when we arrived we told you there was a surprise here waiting for you. And it's waiting inside this hangar."  
  
"A new Mobile Suit?"  
  
"Not just ANY Mobile Suit. I present to you, the Shining Gundam."  
  
The guard opened the door, and there it was, in all it's multi-colored glory. It was a little smaller than the GP-01's flight mode, but had a fancier design. Sharper, more pronounced epaulets over the shoulders, a sleek, quick-appearing design, and no weapons visible beyond the standard head vulcans.  
  
"This Gundam is MINE?"  
  
"A Gundam designed specifically for a martial artist. No more foot pedal and control sticks for you, kid. This Gundam uses a special Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit that traces your movements, allowing you to use every martial arts move you've ever learned. Two small beam generators in the arms allow the suit to mimic ki attacks, and therefore negating the need for standard weaponry. A suit designed with YOU in mind, Saotome."  
  
By the time he had finished speaking, Ranma was already giving the suit a close examination.  
  
Back on the Grey Phantom, Ukyo and sHampoo had just been brought on board, along with the other recruits. While Blair broke in the others, Xero and Nikita were giving Ukyo and Shampoo a SPECIAL welcome.  
  
"Listen carefully, you two!" Xero spoke, in the voice of an experienced commander, and never giving the two a chance to protest anything he says. "The Alliance may be an unrestrictive military, but there ARE rules you must follow. First off, your engagements to Ranma Saotome mean NOTHING as long as you are on this ship! You are on the Alliance's most advanced battleship, and you will not harass Ranma at any time! Anything we see that we feel is harassment WILL get you thrown in the brig! You are under my command on this ship. As the newest pilots, you are also under Saotome's command. You are also under Akane's command." Shampoo tried to complain about that, but Xero wouldn't hear it, "Command in the Mboile Suit ranks on this ship is determined by experience!!! Unless you prove to have better skills than her, she has authority over you! Most importantly, you will be responsible for practicing when there are no battles in progress. When it comes to maintenance of your Suits, and training simulations, you will report to Nikita, call sign Ice Bitch. She is the head mechanic on the Grey Phantom, and in charge of the training sims. You WILL notify her when you are engaging a sim, and you WILL report problems with your Mobile Suits to her. Nikita, you take it from here."  
  
"Thank you, Xero. Any complaints concerning you and Ranma OR Akane will also go through me. I will be responsible for determining punishments for any incidents involving these two. IF you came to the Grey Phantom in hopes of advancing your engagements and chances to "get" our young pilot, you are going to be sorely disappointed. The Alliance is not all fun and games. And you will do as ordered! UNDERSTOOD?!"  
  
Both hesitated before responding, "Yes, ma'am!"  
  
Nikita turned to the next in line in the chain of MS command, "Blair!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am!"  
  
"Once you're finished put our two new pilots through a practice phase."  
  
"Understood!"  
  
Xero and Nikita then left to take care of things concerning the Mobile Suits. "So what do we got, here?" Niktia asked.  
  
"Ukyo is going to be taking command of the GM Cannon. Blair'll be moving up to Ranma's GM, and we'll finally be taking him off the gun turrets. Shampoo's been assigned to the new GM Sniper that they'll be loading on along with the Shining Gundam."  
  
"I see. Any word on what's going on after this?"  
  
"Rumor is we'll go back to scouring desolate areas for any sign of LONO bases."  
  
"We've been doing a lot of running around since most of our GMs fell in that encounter in Africa."  
  
"I know.. Hopefully the new pilots can handle what they have to do."  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
"Okay, you two, we're going to be doing a patrol of the Juuban district, but we'll also be doing some practice in combat. If you are targeted, you lose. You will follow my or Akane's orders at ALL TIMES! We move out as soon as your Suits are ready! GET MOVING!!!"  
  
With Xero and Nikita's words still etched in their brains, Ukyo and Shampoo wasted no time in going to prepare their suits. Blair went to notify Akane of her task.  
  
"This sucks." Ukyo commented, "We've been on the ship five minutes and we're already being sent out. I haven't gotten a chance to see my Ranchan yet!"  
  
"I'm not any happier about it." Shampoo commented, "I want to see Ranma, too. But I guess we'll just have to wait."  
  
Ukyo STILL wasn't used to hearing Shampoo speaking proper Japanese. When they'd joined up, one of the first things the commanders did was make sure Shampoo was taught proper Japanese. She had gotten the hang of it quickly and now it was hard to believe that just a few months ago this girl was speaking in the third person and in broken Japanese.  
  
"And to make matters worse," Ukyo grumbled, "we have to take orders from AKANE!"  
  
"Do you have a problem with that?!" A voice came from below.  
  
"Um. No, Aka- I mean, ma'am."  
  
"Don't be so formal, Ukyo. You can still call me by name."  
  
Shampoo looked at how Akane was carrying herself and realized that Ranma had begun training her, "Aiya. Akane, you might be a match for me, soon!"  
  
"Okay, enough with the chit-chat!" Blair shouted as he came on to the scene, "Finish up so we can move out!"  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
"SIR?! YOU CLOWNS GOT DUST IN YOUR EYES?! I'm not an officer! I WORK for a living! Call me Sarge when I'm giving an order."  
  
"You two need to learn," Akane spoke, "That rank means nothing on this ship unless an order is being given. So unless you are being given an order it is okay to call other by name. Anyway, GET MOVING!! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!!!"  
  
"Aiya! Akane doesn't screw around!!!"  
  
A short while later.  
  
"Man." Ukyo grumbled, "Why do I have to use this oversized artillery cannon?"  
  
"Because it's all they had available and I proved to be better suited for the Sniper?"  
  
"Oh, shut up." Ukyo's computer then registered that she'd been targeted..By Akane. "WHAAAAT?!"  
  
"Rule number 1," Akane said through the comm., "Watch your back. As Ranma has taught me, MS combat can very easily be compared to a martial arts battle. If you don't pay attention, you'll go down FAST."  
  
".Understood."  
  
Blair's radar then picked up something. "Okay, listen up we've got four unidentified targets approaching from the northeast."  
  
Akane checked her scanners, "I see them."  
  
"Blair to Grey Phantom can you confirm the ID if the contacts?"  
  
"Scanning.. IFF signals identifying them as LONO Mobile Suits."  
  
"Okay, you pilots, no more practice, this is the real thing. This is probably just a scouting party but be on guard nonetheless."  
  
"Grey Phantom to Blair, message from the Captain: Do not fire unless fired upon."  
  
"What?!" Shampoo screamed, "Why?! That's stupid!"  
  
"Beats me," Blair replied, "but the Captain usually has something up his sleeve."  
  
Back on the Grey Phantom, they had just finished loading up the Shining Gundam. Joe went to where Xero was checking over the GP-01's systems. "Xero, go out there and plant a tracer on one of those suits. If this is just a scouting party they'll be returning to their base as soon as they're done. Blair, Akane and the newbies are positioned in the city. They're to attack only if attacked by the group."  
  
"Gotcha. Nikita! Open up GP-01 for Ground-based combat!"  
  
"Roger!"  
  
A few equipment exchanges and Xero was out in the field waiting for the right opportunity to- "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!!!"  
  
Right in the center of the formation was a very LARGE Mobile Suit. Easily 50% larger than a Gelgoog. It had six large missiles in two pods attached to it's back and an appearance that looked like someone slammed GP-01's light mode and a Gelgoog together. It also had one hell of a nasty-looking beam rifle.  
  
"Good god," was all Blair managed to say.  
  
"Get me a reading!" Joe shouted.  
  
"It's no good, Joe!" the sensor operator shouted, "We can't scan that thing's internal structure! Something's itnerefering!"  
  
"Grey Phantom to all Mobile Suits in the field! Previous orders are revoked. Destroy all incoming Mobile Suits!" He then turned on the ship's intercom system, "All hands, battle stations! Nikita! Ranma! Get out there immediately!"  
  
As soon as Joe relayed his information to the base command center the entire base went on full alert. Unfortunately, being only a research facility, they were not as well-equipped as most Alliance bases. They had only two Stars of GM Customs available to aid the Grey Phantom's forces.  
  
"Shampoo to Grey Phantom! Requesting permission to use the Sniper Rifle!"  
  
"Permission granted. Nikita, get a team sent out with the rifle!!"  
  
As Nikita and Ranma's Gundams departed the ship, a large truck containing the generator for Shampoo's Sniper Rifle left, as well. "Ranma, go meet up with Blair and the others. I'll cover the Sniper team."  
  
"Right."  
  
Nikita led the team over to Shampoo's location. The citizens had rushed to shelters at the first sign of LONO Mobile Suits, so the streets were deserted. Shampoo's Sniper location was somewhat distanced from the battleground, she'd chosen a spot near the Nerima district where the skyscrapers left her a mostly clear shot while hiding her Suit well enough that there was little chance she'd be spotted before she good get a shot fired.  
  
Unfortunately, almost as soon as she arrived, she picked up six more Mobile suits coming from the opposite direction the first four were coming from. She didn't hesitate to notify everyone.  
  
"Damn," Xero grumbled, "A pincer attack. Nikita, you, Blair, and Akane handle the other group. Me, Ranma, and Ukyo will take care of this group."  
  
"Roger! You heard the man! Move it!!"  
  
"Ranma, you've got the fastest unit, so you try to focus on the large suit. Me and Ukyo will take out those Gelgoogs."  
  
"Got it." Ranma began powering up the several beam generators in his Gundam.  
  
"You were right to be suspicious, Joe. I think they were waiting for us to come here, to deploy this new suit."  
  
"However powerful it is," Ranma commented, "It's no match for me."  
  
"Ranma, give your overinflated ego a rest, would ya?"  
  
Then the Grey Phantom's sensor operator spotted something, "Three Musai- class battleships approaching from the east!!"  
  
"Helm, lift off! All hands prepare to ship-to-ship combat! Charge the beam cannons and load the missile launchers!"  
  
"This battle will not be easy, people," Xero spoke through the comm system, "Don't get killed out there."  
  
"Captain, the Musais are headed directly towards us!"  
  
"Turn Grey Phantom 180 degrees! Meet them head-on!"  
  
"Aye, sir!"  
  
"Don't let us down, now, Grey Phantom."  
  
End chapter 3  
  
Author's Notes: Been a while, huh? Well as anyone who reads Kagome's Heritage knows, I've finally gotten off my lazy ass and started writing again. I made this chapter extra long(I was actually planning to span THESE events out over the course of 2 chapters, originally!!!) to make up for the big wait. I'll be alternating fics, so after this is updated, I work on the next chapter of Kagome's Heritage, then back to this. I've put Flights of the Nova Cat on hold until this and Kagome's Heritage are complete.  
  
On other notes, several people noticing Blair in previous chapters said he should be given more time. So I gave him more time. He's a skilled MS pilot but up until now all he's been doing is manning the guns since there wasn't a GM Custom available for him.  
  
And you people don't honestly think I'm going to let Ukyo and Shampoo get away with the things they do in Nerima, do you?  
  
I know I'm going to catch hell from Akane-haters (and lovers) for how she's changed since the fic has started, so I'm going to say this now: She's in the middle of a WAR!! Enough said.  
  
This fic is now 3-5 chapters from finishing. There are some more events that need to be dealt with (like finding out who's the traitor) before I get to the big ending.  
  
How many of you can guess what suit that big one I just mentioned is? 


	4. Chapter 4

Ranma Gundam 2008 By Tekkaman Xero  
  
Chapter 4: The Return of Ryoga! The Eternally Lost Mobile Suit Pilot!  
  
"Don't let us down, now, Grey Phantom."  
  
Joe was worried. When the initial sighting had occurred he hadn't thought it anything their forces couldn't handle. The appearance of another MS team and several Musais had drastically altered that opinion. Backup was virtually nonexistent, the nearest Salamis was 6 hours away. The two Stars(A/N: A Star is not impressive at all. The term "Star" refers to a five-pointed representation of said object. A "Star" of Mobile Suits accordingly contains only five MS) of GMs the facility had wouldn't be enough unless the Grey Phantom's pilots could pull something out of their asses.  
  
Who knows? They were always surprising the Alliance, maybe they could surprise him.  
  
Unfortunately, they had two rookies and a pilot still adjusting to a new MS out there. The situation seemed grim. Especially since that giant red suit could be carrying six mini-nukes for all he knew.  
  
"Xero to all Mobile Suits. I'm reorganizing our deployment pattern. Ranma, you, Akane and Blair will head off the force coming in from the north. Nikita and Ukyo will take the force coming in from the south. Shampoo, you support them from your sniper position. I'm going to lead both Stars of GMs against the Musais. Understand?!"  
  
"Yes, sir!" Came the instantaneous response. Xero had estimated the large Mobile Suit to easily be the most dangerous(and most likely to be the leader) and singled it out for a quick kill, thus disorienting the other suits accompanying it and allowing for a quick takedown. Then they could split up and send forces against the other group and the Musais.  
  
However once they had regrouped in accordance with their orders, the red suit had taken notice of them, and went straight for them. More specifically, right at Ranma's Shining Gundam. The other MS backing it up opened fire on the rest of Xero's group.  
  
"Return fire!! Focus on those Gelgoogs!" Blair had noticed that the other suit was too close to Ranma and moving too much to risk a shot, so he changed the tactic Xero had clearly planned. Instead of taking out the large suit, first, take out it's backup first. THEN worry about how to handle it.  
  
However, the Gelgoog pilots were no slackers, and subduing them proved to be difficult. While Akane and Blair dealt with them, Ranma was having even more trouble with the large red suit, which was nearly twice the size of his Shining Gundam. The fact that he was still adjusting to the new piloting system didn't help, either. Strangely, the large suit was not using it's weapons, instead throwing punches and kicks that would make Ryoga proud. "Wait a minute. I know this.. This style of combat." Ranma was unaware that he'd left his comm. System on and the entire battle group could hear him.  
  
Ranma's suspicions were confirmed when the suit shoved it's index finger at him, causing a building to explode on contact when Ranma dodged the attack. "NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!! RYOGA'S IN THAT SUIT!!"  
  
"WHAT?!" Akane shouted.  
  
"Can't fool you, can I?" Ryoga's smirking face appeared on the comm systems in all of the Mobile Suits. "All units, cease your attack. I'll take them all myself!"  
  
Xero was first to comment, "This guy's ego is bigger than Ranma's!"  
  
"Ranma, I shall defeat you and then all of your friends single handedly!!" He was clearly unaware that Akane was in one of those Suits. On that note, Ryoga attacked once again. Ranma blocked the punch with ease, getting adjusted with his link to his Gundam.  
  
"Ryoga, are you out of your mind?! Why have you joined LONO?!" Ranma threw a strong right punch at the head of Ryoga's MS, intending to take out the main camera. However, Ryoga blocked this move.  
  
"Don't misunderstand me, Ranma. I could care less about LONO's objectives! I'm here solely to defeat you! This Sazabi Mobile Suit, the pride of LONO's research, will be my tool to defeat you!!"  
  
"It certainly suits your personality."  
  
As the battle raged on between the two, Xero noticed the other MS towards the Musais and activated a tight-beam transmission to Shampoo. "Shampoo, can you get a shot at the Musais?"  
  
"Hold on." Shampoo checked her equipment, "Yes, I can."  
  
"As soon as all those Gelgoogs board the Musais, target them and fire. If I read the specs for the sniper rifle right, a full-power shot SHOULD be able to destroy a Musai."  
  
"Understood!" She began powering up the rifle and lining up her shot.  
  
No one noticed a blue Mobile Suit, slightly smaller than the Sazabi, drop from one of the Musais.  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma was slowly gaining the upper hand, as his Gundam had something Ryoga's Sazabi lacked: Higher mobility.  
  
"Ryoga, I can't believe you'd go this far, just to get revenge for things that aren't my fault!"  
  
"It's all your fault, Ranma! Everything is! You ran out on our fight!"  
  
"I waited three days!!"  
  
"You knocked me in that damn Jusenkyo Spring!!!"  
  
Akane, whom Ryoga did not know was in the area, wondered just when THAT happened.  
  
"No one made you follow me!"  
  
"And time and time again you abandoned Akane so you could flirt with those other girls!!!"  
  
On that note, something snapped in Ranma's head. "Ryoga. I am sick and tired of this. You attack me for no reason every chance you get, blame things on me that I had no way of influencing, and dare to say I abandoned Akane after ALL THE THINGS I'VE DONE FOR HER?!"  
  
Akane was immediately reminded of the encounter with Prince Toma, where he threw away a cure to his curse, for HER sake.  
  
"I'm drawing the line HERE, Ryoga!! This is the final fight! We end it once and for all!!" The generators in the Shining Gundam's arms charged to full power, "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"  
  
Focusing the beam energy from the generators, Ranma replicated his ki attack through the Gundam and sent a ball of blue beam energy hurtling at Ryoga's Sazabi. Ryoga tried to dodge it, but the impact still melted off the shield on the left arm, and rendered the arm itself useless. Heat damage had also lowered the suit's performance. "Damn you, Ranma!! We'll finish this another time! All units, withdraw!" Upon that note, a large bolt of beam energy shot out and tore through one of the Musais, obliterating it. Ryoga saw this and knew they had to get out of there. Two Musais could handle Grey Phantom, but with a weapon THAT powerful in the area.  
  
He fired his thrusters rising his suit into the air, "Ranma, I make one last action in this fight to express my will against you!" Taking out the beam rifle, he aimed at the nearest GM: Akane's. "You, DIE!!" As soon as the computer targeted, he fired.  
  
"NO! AKANE!!"  
  
It was only then that Ryoga realized Akane was there. "No.What have I done.?"  
  
Fortunately, Akane was no longer the slouch she used to be, and much more nimble, even in the GM, However, the shot still caught her suit's engine. The resulting explosion did not destroy the suit, but it did massive damage.  
  
Ryoga, seeing what he had done, and positive Akane was dead, retreated, not wanting to face it. However, his direction didn't send him anywhere the two remaining Musais, one of which was heavily damaged from when Grey Phantom took action while the LONO forces followed the orders they had been given.  
  
Being nearer to the suit, Xero was there before Ranma. By the time Ranma arrived at the scene, Xero was opening the GM's cockpit to check on Akane. After checking her condition, he called out, "Ranma! She's still alive! Get Grey Phantom to send a medical team!!"  
  
A short while later, the medical team was bringing Akane to the base infirmary. Salvage teams recovered the remains of her Mobile Suit. While every MS pilot on Grey Phantom (plus Joe) waited for word on her condition.  
  
It was about three hours before the doctor came out.  
  
"How is she?" Ranma asked, practically before the doctor had passed through the door.  
  
"She'll make a full recovery, but she'll be out of action for at least a month. She has flash burns on most of her body, but not much else aside from a few lacerations and a concussion. The only other notable thing is the large gash in her back. It's going to take at least two weeks for that to heal, and she'll need to stay in bed for all of it. It's going to leave a pretty nasty scar."  
  
"At least she'll be okay."  
  
"Maybe she shouldn't pilot anymore." Xero commented.  
  
"Why do you say that?" Ukyo asked.  
  
"She's been a great pilot up until now, but I worry that such an easy defeat, by a former friend, no less, might affect her psychologically. If she still WANTS to pilot we'll give her a chance, but if she's unsure or doesn't want to, we won't force her."  
  
"It's true." Joe said, "Losing a battle and surviving tends to leave psychological scars. Which can be several times worse than any physical scar. Some soldiers have nightmares until the very day they die."  
  
The alarms then went off. "Unidentified Mobile Suit approaching! Model unknown, appears to be based on the Gelgoog!"  
  
"I'll take care of it." Ranma said. He wanted to get away from the current situation, and this offered a good distraction. Plus an outlet for his anger.  
  
The blue Mobile suit was similar to the Gelgoog, however the legs were slimmer and it was more rounded out, and it was slightly smaller. Unfortunately, the two large bazookas on it's back, handheld shotgun, and various other nasty-looking weapons did nothing to ease Ranma's nerves. He had a bad feeling about this.  
  
"Saotome." A familiar voice came over the comm, "I see Ryoga has failed. No matter, I'll take care of his failure."  
  
"Mousse! Not you, too?!"  
  
"Of course. What better way to defeat you and win my darling Shampoo back!"  
  
"You fool! How is joining LONO going to help you win back Shampoo?! Especially when Shampoo is fighting AGAINST them?!"  
  
"You lie! My dear Shampoo would not have joined the Alliance!"  
  
"It's no lie, Mousse. And lastly, how many times to I have to tell you I'M NOT INTERESTED IN HER?!"  
  
"Hold your tongue, Saotome! It doesn't matter! Today I WILL defeat you, with the help of this Mobile Suit!!" And with that, Mousse let loose with several shotgun blasts.  
  
. All of which Ranma dodged. Pulling out the longer of his two beam sabers, he leapt into action. First slicing Mousse's shotgun in half, but the myopic Hidden Weapons master simply pulled out another one from a hardpoint on the back and resumed his attack.  
  
Ranma found himself learning the hard way that the beam energy in the Shining Gundam could create an energy shield, which easily blocked all of Mousse's shotgun blasts. After running out of ammo, Mousse discarded the spent shotgun, removed his suit's beam saber, and charged at Ranma.  
  
Ranma, however, saw right through Mousse's move and blocked it. Removing his other, shorter beam saber, he began a duel of beam sabers with Ryoga. Before long it looked like a Jedi Fight Scene out of a Star Wars movie.  
  
But this ended when Ranma decided to experiment. Let's see. Right now I can't fire off a Mouko Takabisha, but if I can charge one and send the energy to the beam sabers.  
  
And he did just that. The focus of beam energy increased the intensity and strength of the beam sabers. But Ranma was sure they couldn't stand the extra energy for long, so he had to finish it quick! "Mouko Takabisha revised: Flying Slasher!!!"  
  
On that note, he jumped back and brought both sabers down in a slashing arc, each one unleashing two airborne blades of beam energy and Mousse's Mobile Suit. Mousse tried to dodge, but only succeeded in dodging ONE of the slashes. The other caught his Mobile Suit on the right elbow, slicing it clean off.  
  
"Dammit.They said this thing could withstand ANYTHING they threw at it. I'll have to retreat, for now."  
  
And so he did. Ranma was about to give chase when he was contacted by Xero.  
  
"Ranma, Akane just woke up. She wants to talk to you."  
  
End chapter 4.  
  
Author's Notes: I don't know why I decided to put Ryoga and Mousse in LONO, but it does present the best opportunity to include them in this fic. I know I'll get hate-mail from Ryoga and Mousse fans, but I really couldn't think of a better way to get them in and include their little qualms. Both of them are too mentally unstable for the Alliance, after all. Some people might argue that Akane is, as well, but I feel Akane would be more likely to change her attitude in these situations. Ranma's feud with Ryoga is often set aside in the series for some reason, but from my experience it seems to be the most important aspect of Ryoga's character. No, Ryoga is NOT a crazy, violent maniac, but he does tend to blame almost everything on Ranma. I don't think most people can deny that and honestly believe what they're saying. Mousse, on the other hand, simply fights Ranma for Shampoo. In this fic he's clearly made a fatal error in his attempts to do so. I don't want to portray Mousse in a bad light, either, but he DOES fight solely for Shampoo and I DOUBT he'd be above joining LONO to get at Ranma if he truly believed Shampoo wouldn't join the Alliance.  
  
On another note, I have been getting complaints by e-mail concerning the Gundam aspects of this story. Mostly the fact that I borrow mostly UC Gundam concepts, and there's a lack of a UC feel. What is the biggest complaint about UC Gundam things that I'm lacking? Death. Almost every UC production has a VERY important character die in it. The complaint is that I haven't killed off an important character, yet. Well, Akane's severe injury is to hold off people making this complaint for a while. Ever since I started this, I FULLY planned to kill off at least TWO Ranma cast members, as well as another major character of my own creation. (note on this, it will not be Xero. Though I am toying with the idea of making something terrible happen to him in place of death) Not all will be happy with whom I choose, obviously, but I feel it's best this way. I have a large portion of the final battle already planned out and I KNOW who is going to die FOR SURE, and HOW they're going to die. Obviously, I may add in others. I'm adding and modifying my "Final Battle" plans as I make changes to how the fic is going to be done. Obviously I take fan suggestions into account, but I try not to deviate much from my original plan. Most changes I make suggested by fans have concerned Mobile Suits. Like who should get what Gundam. (it was actually a fans suggestion that Ranma be put into a Gundam from Mobile Fighter G Gundam. I realized how much better it would be for him if he had that kind of control system immediately after reading the e-mail!!) Very few changes suggested by fans have NOT concerned Mobile Suits(one of those few, though, was Nabiki helping to root out the traitor. Though that wasn't specifically said, I was just told I should find a way to get Nabiki more fic time than that bit in chapter 1). I had just been starting to think of how I could insert Ryoga and Mousse when I got a fan e-mail asking when Ryoga and Mousse were going to join the Grey Phantom's forces. That got the gears turning and I thought of a good way to insert them.  
  
Well, I'm getting a little off, here. I decided to post this chapter before starting my alternating update plan since Kagome's Heritage is so much further along than this one. (can't blame me, can you? It's gotten more overall response than this! Don't let the reviews fool you, between reviews and fan-e-mail Kagome's Heritage has gotten a LOT more attention. Please go read it! BASIC knowledge of Inu-Yasha and Gold Digger RECOMMENDED, but not REQUIRED) 


	5. Chapter 5

Ranma Gundam 2008 By Tekkaman Xero  
  
Chapter 5: A traitor in LONO!!  
  
It had been several weeks since the battle with Ryoga and Mousse. Akane's burns had healed, for the most part(she had acquired Ranma's rather quick healing ability during the course of her training, though not nearly as developed), but as had been predicted, Ryoga's appearance on the enemy forces, along with the revelation of certain secrets, had taken it's toll mentally.  
  
Akane refused to ever pilot a Mobile Suit again. Ranma and Xero had little luck in trying to get her to continue helping, and Nikita had even less luck. It was looking like the Alliance had lost one of it's best pilots.  
  
But a more disturbing matter concerned LONO. They hadn't made a move since the attacks, which was very unlike them. It was bothering Joe to no end. Plus there was that little secret project he'd started last week that he wished he could personally supervise.  
  
LONO mobile HQ #687: Somewhere in Australia.  
  
"YOU LIED TO ME!!! You told me that the Alliance was evil!!"  
  
Ryoga was pissed about how he had been misled. So was Mousse, but for now, Mousse was keeping silent. He had to think of a way to get out of LONO and still get his precious Shampoo.  
  
"They are evil. If they weren't, your enemy Ranma Saotome wouldn't have joined."  
  
"Akane would NEVER join the side of darkness!!!"  
  
"Look, kid, I don't know what delusional world you live in, but the Alliance is evil incarnate by defending those countries from our attacks. Evil must be purged and we're the ones who must do it."  
  
This guy sounds like a more modernized Kuno!!! "Whatever. I don't care anymore. I'm leaving LONO."  
  
The LONO commander snapped his fingers and several men with large guns entered, training said weapons on Ryoga.  
  
Now, Ryoga was unquestionably Ranma's greatest rival, and probably among the best martial artists in the world, but he was pretty sure that the Bakusai Tenketsu training wouldn't save him a gun. Add that to the fact that there are more people holding the guns than he could possibly defeat before someone shot him, and he knew he was trapped.  
  
"Kid, no one leaves LONO alive before we win this war. You either continue to fight with us, or you die."  
  
"You bastards.."  
  
Mousse then realized that he couldn't continue serving LONO. For the first time ever, he decided to cancel his pursuit of Shampoo until he could take care of something else.  
  
Both were trapped. But Ryoga was already formulating a plan.  
  
"Listen up, you two, you'll be leading an attack on the Grey Phantom in two days. I want you to work with our tactical expert to devise an effective strategy. And no calling off the troops to fight one-on-one."  
  
Ryoga and Mousse both saluted, "Understood, sir." However, the contempt they now held for this man they made no attempt to hide.  
  
Nerima.  
  
Nabiki had just sent her latest report to her Alliance contacts. She never thought this task would be so difficult. So far all her leads had hit dead ends. All she knew for sure was that the traitor was so high up in the ranks of the Alliance that it was easy to encrypt files to the point where NO ONE could look at them. And if she didn't get into those files, she couldn't find the traitor. She'd used the contacts she reported her findings to as a source of information. The more she helped, the more info she got about how Ranma and Akane were doing. Even if she couldn't find what she needed, the Alliance was more than happy to supply her with information as payment for as much aid as possible. She was positive there were others on the same task, though, and this eased her mind quite a bit.  
  
Relaxing after sending the report, she went over what she knew about Ranma and Akane. She knew that they were both MS pilots on a special assault unit, and that Ukyo and Shampoo had recently joined the unit. She had few details, but also knew they were piloting the Alliance's most advanced MS.  
  
Then there was the bad news she had received weeks ago. It was not information given in exchange for her help, it had been a notice to everyone in the family. It was about Akane's injury in the fight. The report had not mentioned that Ryoga had been the one at fault, but Nabiki did a little side hacking while working and discovered that Ranma's report confirmed the pilot of the suit was Ryoga. She'd make sure to make Ryoga's life a living hell if he ever showed his face around Nerima again.  
  
Kasumi had been too shocked to speak when they got the news, and her father had been crying for days. However, when they received word that Akane was recovering just fine, Soun had come out of that state and things were beginning to return to normal. Or as normal as things can get with Ranma and Akane gone.  
  
Grey Phantom, en route to Australia to investigate rumored LONO activity.  
  
"Ranma!" Xero called.  
  
"Yo?" As usual, Ranma was in his Gundam, practicing. The Mobile Trace System/Virtual Environment cockpit had allowed Ranma to practice with his Mobile Suit while also keeping up his martial arts training, while not having to separate both activities. Currently has was running a simulation of a fight with Ryoga's Sazabi. Ranma was beyond certain that he would face Ryoga again, and he wanted to be ready.  
  
"After this mission, it might be best to return Akane to Nerima."  
  
"I agree, there. but didn't you say we couldn't leave because of what we've seen?"  
  
"She'd officially be an Alliance member on medical leave. I'm thinking a visit with her family might get her back in the cockpit, and if it doesn't, then we don't have to worry about her."  
  
Meanwhile, said person was in her quarters, silently crying to herself. She'd never felt more betrayed in her life. First finding Ryoga had joined LONO just so he could fight Ranma! Then finding out he was P-chan!! Right now, she just wanted to shut herself out and die. But she knew that was the coward's way out.  
  
When Akane had asked to talk to Ranma after she woke up when she first got injured, she had flat-out stated she would never fly a Mobile Suit again. Through Ranma's talk it was clear that her confidence had been badly damaged. For a short while Ranma had been keeping an eye on Akane to make sure she didn't kill herself. She had been slipping into a deep depression, but Ranma had determined she didn't want to take the coward's way out, she was above that. But, Ranma knew it was a sign of hope, that there was a chance that even if they couldn't get her to pilot again, she would at least snap out of her depression.  
  
She missed her family, too. She was also wishing she could go home.  
  
Two days later.  
  
"Captain on deck!" Nikita shouted. Every person on the hangar deck snapped to attention(including Ranma's Gundam).  
  
"As you were." Joe said as he made his way to Ranma.  
  
"I've gotten approval for Akane to return to Nerima on medical leave after this mission is over. She'll need a physician's checkup while she's there."  
  
"Why are you telling me? Shouldn't you be telling HER?"  
  
Joe handed Ranma the folder containing the written approval. "I think it would be better for you to tell her. You're closer to her than anyone else on this ship."  
  
"I see."  
  
At the point there was an explosion, and the ship went to Red Alert. Joe rushed to the bridge. "Report!"  
  
"Ten stars of Mobile Suits are attacking us from below!"  
  
"Battle stations!! Deploy all Mobile Suits!!!"  
  
The MS pilots immediately scrambled to power up their suits. Xero was the first to be ready. Reports showed at least two stars were Goufs, so he opened up the GP-01's Flight Mode, and Nikita with done the same with the Mk. II.  
  
Ranma was next in line, having already been in his MS, he needed to only switch it over from simulation mode to combat mode.  
  
Ukyo, Shampoo, and Blair had not been on the flight deck and therefore were the last to get powered up and ready to deploy.  
  
"Captain," Xero asked, "When will we get some reinforcements?"  
  
"The Australian Army doesn't have Mobile Suits but they're sending some planes to give us some support. There are two Salamis cruisers about 30 minutes away, but that's all."  
  
"All, right, people, you heard him. We have limited combat abilities but we gotta try and hold our own for at least 30 minutes!!!"  
  
The suits were then launched. Xero and Nikita headed for the Goufs while the others headed for the ground targets.  
  
Blair's voice rang through the radio. "Visual confirmation! The two leading MS are the Sazabi and the Kampfer! Saotome! Stay alert, Sazabi seems to be looking for you. Ukyo's is engaged with the Kampfer."  
  
The fight was on. Sure enough, Ryoga was looking for Ranma. But not for the same reason as last time. Soon he had found Ranma, and charged.  
  
This did not go unnoticed by Ranma, and he prepared to fight. However, at the last second, Ryoga veered away, removing his beam saber, he slashed down and destroyed one Gouf and it's Dodai YS carrier. "This is Ryoga Hibiki to the Grey Phantom. I announce my intention to defect."  
  
This caught everyone off-guard. Then Mousse's voice was heard on the radio. "As do I. If you'll just get Miss Kuonji here to stop attacking me."  
  
Ukyo had been wondering why Mousse had not made an offensive move. Her GM Cannon was much slower that the Kampfer, after all. But upon hearing that, she broke off her attack.  
  
LONO mobile HQ #687  
  
"Dammit!! I knew I should've installed that system in both of their units!! Listen, assault team! Destroy the Sazabi and the Kampfer! Their pilots must not be allowed to defect." He sat back and sighed. "Doctor, how much time until we can hit Mousse's auto-eject and bring him back here for your mental reconditioning?"  
  
"The Mobile Suits programming does now allow an ejection unless the situation is dangerous. First, we need to be within 25 miles, and since the remote unit's concept of "danger" is more vague, all we have to do then is wait for it to get low on ammuniation.  
  
"Good. If we can't have them both, we'll have one!"  
  
Back at the battlefield, the addition of Ryoga and Mousse in the fight against LONO had made a considerable difference. So far, only Blair had been shot down, but there was no severe damage. The GM could be fixed easily, and Blair probably wouldn't be spending much time in the infirmary. Things were looking up, and the arrival of the two Salamis cruisers made all the difference. Though heavily outnumbered (A/N: Ten stars = 50 Mobile Suits!!! The Grey Phantom had six units deployed, and each Salamis only carries twelve), the GM Custom was more advanced than the Zakus and Goufs the LONO Forces used. Had LONO used it's more advanced Doms and Gelgoogs, the Alliance may have lost. As it was, the battle was beginning to wind down.  
  
And Mousse was running low on ammo.  
  
"Two Musais have been sighted nearby!! They're staying on the edge of the battle zone and are not deploying any Mobile Suits!"  
  
"Captain, I'm picking up a transmission to the Kampfer. It looks an override command!"  
  
"What the hell?! My controls just froze!!!"  
  
At that point, the Kampfer's escape capsule flew out. A LONO Mobile Suit grabbed it and returned to the Musais. The rest of the LONO forces also retreated.  
  
"Recover the Kampfer body and all Mobile Suits. Any idea what the transmission was?"  
  
"It was definitely an override command set to jettison the Kampfer's escape pod. For some reason, I would think they really don't want to give up Mousse as a pilot."  
  
But why not Ryoga?  
  
"Captain, all units recovered. Kampfer is being locked down by Ranma."  
  
"Have Ranma, Ryoga, and Xero meet me in my quarters."  
  
End chapter 5:  
  
Author's notes: You didn't think I'd KEEP Ryoga on LONO did you? However, Mousse presented a problem. According to Amazon Law, Mousse is not worthy of Shampoo. He sees defeating Ranma as his only way of proving himself worthy. Though I doubt defeating him in a Mobile Suit battle would count, he doesn't care. I made it clear he no longer wants to be in LONO, knowing he'll have to fight against Shampoo as well. But LONO has other plans. I told you before, I got big plans for Mousse.  
  
Also, Akane WILL be coming back to Grey Phantom. Whether as a pilot, or something else, I do not know. SOMEONE from the Ranma cast will pilot the rebuilt Kampfer for the Alliance. No idea who, yet, though, since they have to replace the cockpit block and they don't know how the cockpit was set up(they need to examine it and find out, first).  
  
I'm sorry it took so long to get this out, and this chapter is definitely rushed. But I have had several problems in real life that have prevented me from writing. That, and most of my writing time has been going towards to my new fanfic(which I intend to be the best fanfic I've written thus far. I'm taking extreme care with it). On another note, when a friend of mine looked over my MS plan for this fic he pointed out I was jumping ahead too much in reference to a special surprise I had planned for near the end. He suggested I "step up" to the idea, so to speak. As a result, Xero will be getting another Gundam that he wasn't originally going to have. However, this then raises the issue of who will get GP-01 afterwards. I'd like your suggestions on this matter, so PLEASE e-mail me or psot your opinion in a review!  
  
Also, anyone who can guess what the new Gundam Xero will get will have the privilege of being a pre-reader for my new fanfic. Here is your ONLY hint:  
  
It has two VERY powerful beam rifles  
  
Before you make your guesses, I will point out that it is NOT the Wing Gundam Zero(as the beam rifle hint might lead you to believe). Ranma Gundam 2008 uses NO mecha from ANY Alternate Universe production, with the exception of the Shining Gundam(and whatever Gundam Ranma ends up with after Shining). But you have to admit, G Gundam Gundams are much better for someone like Ranma. 


	6. Farewell

I apologize for going so long without updating these things, but I'm afraid I just can't do these anymore. The end came about a month after posting the last chapter of Kagome's Heritage. I'd had two chapters(one for Kagome's Heritage and one for Ranma Gundam) almost ready to go. They just needed a little tweaking. They were the longest and most well-written chapters I'd ever done. However, before I could put the finishing touches on them, my computer exploded. I lost everything. I never got the inspiration to sit down and rewrite those chapters. Recently I've been getting more writing inspiration from The Anime Addventure, but I still have trouble actually WRITING. I mostly come up with good ideas for stuff that other people end up writing. Still, between the lack of writing ability, my job, and other issues(hitting a concrete wall at 160 MPH REALLY FRAKKING HURTS!), I don't think I shall ever be writing these fics again… I know both had a good following and plenty of fans(though not as many as I would have liked when I first started writing these things), which is why if ANYBODY wants to do a rewrite or continuation of these fics, please e-mail me and I shall give you my notes and my blessings to continue them. However, I would advise AGAINST posting them on I have several friends who have been eternally burned in the fanfic community for plagiarism when they not only gave credit where credit is due(which by definition is all that needs to be done for it to not be plagiarism), but had gotten permission from the original author. Because of nonexistant investigative tactics for claims of plagiarism, I would recommend that any rewrites or continuations of my fics be posted at you all, and farewell.

Tekkaman Xero


End file.
